10 Pounds Northern Banking Company

The Northern Banking Company Limited was one of the smaller Belfast-based provincial banks still issuing its own notes in the early twentieth century, operating independently until its absorption into the Midland Bank group in 1923. By 1905, private bank note issue in Ireland was already a contracting privilege — the Bank of Ireland held a near-monopoly position, and provincial issuers were under steady pressure. A £10 denomination implies wholesale rather than retail circulation; this was not pocket money.

Perkins Bacon's steel-engraved plates gave these notes a precision that outlasted many of the institutions that commissioned them. The Northern Banking Company series is genuinely scarce at this value.